When my 8-year old rounded–screen television set started to produce unnecessary green and purple colours, I decided to get another telly. Though I wanted to keep that old TV for sentimental reasons, the distorted colour made me want to throw it out of the window at times. I wanted to save that television set anyway so I had it checked by a technician and he diagnosed it with a damaged picture tube so I ended up ordering SonyKV28FS20.

When the television set arrived, I was surprised with the very huge box. The two delivery men did have a hard time getting it out from the delivery van and into my house. When the box was opened, I was amazed with that big pretty TV. A rabbit antenna, a remote control and a multi-language user manual were in the box too.

SET UP

Set up was easy once the SonyKV28FS20 is installed. I just put the rabbit antenna in place, plug the cord then turn the TV on. The next thing to do was to have the channels programmed and it was done with utmost ease with its on-screen menu.

THE SCREEN

SonyKV28FS20 is actually my first wide-screen television. After watching a rounded-screen TV for almost a decade, I immediately appreciated the flat screen. The 28-inch Trinitron screen (diagonally measured) is perfectly flat. The picture is so sharp. Most people know the old rule in TV, the smaller the screen, the better the picture. However, with SonyKV28FS20, the images are better than my old 21-inch TV even before its picture tube was damaged. It has 3-line Digital Comb Filter technology that reduces dot crawl and it produces clear video images. The dot crawl really messes up the beauty of TV’s colour a bit. With this comb filter, I can rarely see a dot crawl on the screen.

This TV also has colour temperature adjustment that provides true colours even when turned on for long hours. The flat screen is great as it eliminates glare and unnecessary light reflection making the screen perfect for viewing. Rounded-screen television sets are prone to catching light from elsewhere.

Most TV’s use 50 hertz frequency and this TV is amongst them. The screen frequency is how fast the TV’s images are refreshed on the screen. The lower the hertz, the more the flickers the TV creates. Though this TV just uses 50 hertz, the flickers it produces are minimal. A 100 hertz frequency of this same TV brand is excellent I’m sure, but I still prefer a 50-hertz Sony TV than any other brand of 100 hertz of rounded television set.

SOUND

I really love the sound of SonyKV28FS20. It just has the right mixing of treble and bass and the maximum volume is awesomely loud. I can turn it as loud as I can without affecting its sound quality. It has Dolby Pro Logic surround sound technology which makes the 2 built-in speakers throw away excellent sound around the house.

FEATURES

• 3-Line digital comb filter
• Dynamic Focus and Dynamic Picture circuitry
• Fastext (10-page memory)
• Advanced on-screen menu
• Multi-language display
• Sleep Timer (15/30/45/60/90 minutes)
• Clock Timer
• Dolby Prologic/Dolby Surround
• Format: 16:9
• Real flat screen
• Stereo Sound System
• Pal/Secam/NTSC TV system
• 50 hertz frequency

SOCKETS

Although I’m impressed with the TV’s performance, I just wish there were more sockets for connection. SonyKV28FS20 has only 2 SCART sockets; a composite and RGB and a composite and S-video sockets. My Playstation and DVD player are RGB’s and I want them both to be connected all the time so they are always ready to use. With lack of needed sockets, I have to pull out the DVD player connector when I want to use the Playstation. I wish they can be both stay connected. There are connector sockets at the bottom of the front of the TV though. That might be very useful to some but I don’t want the wires to be visible at the front.

Price: I got mine for £680.

VERDICT

SonyKV28FS20 looks great in my living room (an LCD TV would be a lot better of course). I’m really impressed with the vivid and crisp images it delivers with its flat screen that minimizes glare and light reflection. The sound is so dynamic as well with its surround system. When I turn it at high volume, it seems like I’m in a cinema house. The real flat screen is perfect. I can view the whole picture even when I watch it at the corner end of the TV.

I just wish there were more SCART connectors. This TV is perfectly flat at the front but it is really bulky at the back. It eats up a very big space of my cabinet. It is too heavy that I can't lift it alone. Even two persons will have a hard time lifting it. It’s really difficult for me to move this TV from one place to another when I try to rearrange furniture in the house. That’s not a big issue for me though. I just do it once in a while and I can always get help from my friendly neighbors.

SonyKV28FS20 is generally a high-quality TV when it comes to picture and sound quality.

(also posted on dooyoo)
browndoll